Brief: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less (Hardcover)

Foreword xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Preface xvii

Part ONE
AWARENESS: HEIGHTENED AWARENESS IN A WORLD BEGGING FOR BRIEF 1

1 Why Brevity Is Vital 3

2 Mindful of Mind-filled-ness 13

3 Why You Struggle with Brevity:The Seven Capital Sins 27

4 The Big Bang of Brevity 35

Part TWO
DISCIPLINE: HOW TO GAIN DISCIPLINE TO BE CLEAR AND CONCISE 41

5 Mental Muscle Memory to Master Brevity 43

6 Map It: From Mind Mapping to BRIEF Maps 45

7 Tell It: The Role of Narratives 59

8 Talk It: Controlled Conversations and TALC Tracks 81

9 Show It: PowerfulWays to Make a Picture Exceed a ThousandWords 91

10 Putting Brevity toWork: Grainger and the Al and Betty Story 105

Part THREE
DECISIVENESS: GAINING THE DECISIVENESS TO KNOW WHEN AND WHERE TO BE BRIEF 111

11 Meeting You Halfway 113

12 Leaving a Smaller Digital Imprint 123

13 Presenting a Briefer Case 133

14 Trimming Your Sales (Pitch) 143

15 Whose Bright IdeaWas That Anyway? 153

16 It’s Never Really Small Talk 165

17 HelpWanted: Master of Brevity 173

18 I’ve Got Some Good News 183

19 And the Bad News Is… 189

20 Got-a-Minute Updates 197

Part FOUR
BEING BRIEF SUMMARY AND ACTION PLAN 207

Resources 219

Notes 221

About the Author 225

Index 227